Learning & Development Centre Research Active Staff Legacy Report
This report outlines the Learning & Development provision to Research Active Staff (RAS) from 1 January
2013 to 31 July 2013 (7 months)
Key Activities and Outputs
1. Communication Strategy/ Quality Information
Developments were planned and completed to the monthly e-newsletter and website to enhance the communication of information, activities and resources available or all Research Active Staff.
Monthly newsletter: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/research ers/opportunities/newsletters/
The purpose of the e-newsletter is:
A total of seven monthly e-newsletters were produced. The monthly e-newsletter is sent to
Research Active Staff (RAS) ie staff on
Academic & Research terms & conditions of employment. The current & past e-newsletter can be found on the L&D RAS website. o To raise awareness of Learning &
Development opportunities for RAS
(ie. LDC / UoW / nationally) o To promote the Learning & Development offerings / workshops and encourage takeup by Research Active Staff o Publicise funding available for Learning &
Development activity (ie. Awards / Funding for Research Active Staff Networks/ other external or internal funding) o Share ideas & practice. Also focusing on some of the activities at Warwick eg Impact,
Public Engagement etc
Website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/research ers
A new improved website was created to provide signposting and useful information on L&D opportunities for RAS. A key feature of this website is the Resources Bank, a searchable repository of information to support ongoing reference and researcher development. It includes case studies, presentations and videos of key workshop talks.
Resource Bank : http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/research ers/resource_bank/
The Resource Bank had 3,812 hits in the first 6 months. Individual pages were accessed by 15-48 people, greatly increasing the numbers benefitting from LDC’s programme of events .
2. Activities and Events
Researcher Programme
Researcher provision has been offered via lunchtime sessions, half day, full day workshops/ sessions or longer programmes plus bespoke workshops / sessions for departments or faculties.
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Some examples of the provision included:
11 February 2013 Practical Project Management for Researchers. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/projrp
26 February 2013 Facilitation Skills http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/rsfs
5 March 2013 Technologies for Research
A collaboration with the Teaching & Learning Unit, Emma http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/techforres
12 March 2013 Practical Project Management 2 - The Next Steps . http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/projrptwo
*New*
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Statistics pilot lunchtime seminar programme http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/researchers/opportunities/development_support/mathstats/
The project was set up by Sandy Sparks in LDC following requests from Research Active Staff to: o Improve understanding of statistics in research methodology o Develop knowledge and skills in statistical analysis to enhance the preparation and completion of research projects
This is a collaboration with RISCU, Director Simon French & Life Sciences, Andrew Mead
The programme consisted of:
- 1-1 support
- 8 lunchtime sessions: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/researchers/opportunities/development_support/mathstats/s eries_programme/ o The Role of Statistical Analysis within a Broader Research Methodology o Experimental Design o Confirmatory Statistics: Identifying, Framing & Testing Hypotheses o Estimation, Variation and Uncertainty o Exploratory Data Analysis and Multi-variate Strategies o Bayesian Modelling & Analysis o Regression Modelling, Variable Selection and GLMs o Qualitative & Quantitative Analysis, Survey & Questionnaire Design
- a Statistics Steering Group was established and met on 16th April, to consider broader engagement and the development of this pilot programme from September 2013.
- website – specific section includes o ‘Statistics Glossary’ of terms o A guidance list of statistics software packages being used at Warwick o A case study by Simon French (Director of RISCU) reflecting on the pilot Statistics Series http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/researchers/resource_bank/ o Resources pages, including videos of the speaker s’ talk, presentation files and additional resources. There have been 1,624 views of the statistics resource pages (averaging 180 hits per talk) since the launch of the website in May 2013
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Academic Writing Programme (AWP) http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/researchers/opportunities/development_support/awp/
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- 1 to 1 Support
LDC has continued providing support/advice to six Research Active Staff on an individual basis on academic writing for either publication or funding proposals
- Workshops
28 February 2013 – Writing Journal Articles & Training Yourself to be a Prolific Writer http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/awp_journals
13th March 2013 - Writing Collaboratively and Responding to Readers’ Comments. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/awp_collaboration
19th March 2013 - Effective Writing for Bids and Grants http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/awp_bids
26th March 2013 - Academic Writing: Impact, Engagement and Dissemination http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/awp_engagement
24th May 2013 - How to be a Prolific Writer & Writing to Present at Conferences . http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/awp_journals
11th June 2013 - Effective Writing for Bids & Grants The morning workshop on this topic will be followed by a ‘ Bid s Review Panel’ in the afternoon: an invaluable opportunity to peer review bids, involving successful funding recipients. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/awp_bids
- Academic Writing Programme Away Days
21 & 22 March 2013 &
27th & 28th June 2013
Two Academic Away days took place. These writing away days run over 2 days and offer
Research Active Staff the opportunity to focus exclusively on their writing http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/awpbootcamp
This was a collaborative project undertaken with Rochelle Sibley from the Warwick Writing
Programme. We will be writing up a case study of the benefits & achievements during November
2013 to inform ongoing academic writing activities.
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Career Development Support
Careers Consultants provided 1-1 support for 13 Research Active Staff to assist with CV advice, career planning, preparing for interviews or mock interviews.
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Research Team Leaders Programme http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/rtlp/
This programme was led by Trudy Hillier & David Faraday. 16 delegates attended this programme ranging from grade 5 – 9 and from 10 departments.
The programme covered four main areas: o Working with Others o Leading your Team o Handling Change and Uncertainty o Running Effective Meetings
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1 —1 Support for RAS http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/researchers/opportunities/1_1support/
LDC is committed to providing Research Active Staff with the relevant support for their development needs. In addition to the programme of funding and events we are currently providing funding for three strands of individual support with the aim of addressing specific research needs.
Career Support:
Statistics Support:
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Academic Writing support
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Coaching & Mentoring
The 1-1 support is provided to RAS by Sandy Sparks. 23 people have been seen, with a range of
L&D issues discussed.
3. Funding Awarded
Additional EPSRC funding of £30,000 was available to 31st March 2013 for activities to support delivering impact, career development and the development of research leaders .
Awards:
Funding was available for either:
Individual staff: up to a maximum of £1,000.
Groups of Research Active Staff/Departments: up to a maximum of £5,000.

Breakdown of funding
EPSRC funding individual & departmental awards o Toni Haastrup (Politics & International Studies): UK Data Archive Workshop £2,060. Event 30 April /
1 May 2013 http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/data_archive o Vijayalakshmi Ahanathapillai ((WMG): IDH Network for Biomedical Engineering Researchers, WMS and NHS professionals £4,000. Event 27 February 2013 Activity Monitoring for Behaviour, Health and Well-Being. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/development/wellbeing o Sarah Payne et al (WMG): WMG ‘Baby Board’ meetings £5,000. Event 25 March 2013. What is
Impact? Science Research with its gloves off! http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/intranet/research/researcherforum/bb/ o Karen Ruane (Life Sciences) £500. Women in Science Event 25 March 2013 Women in Science — an Evening with … Science Career Success Stories http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/pioneers/events/womeninscience/wis/ o Eleni Karasouli & Sian Taylor-Phillips (WMS): Network for Early Career Researchers within WMS
£800 o Frederik Dahlmann (WBS): WBS Research Staff Network £550 (match-funded by WBS) o Siew Wan Hee & Thomas Hamborg (WMS): Warwick Medical School Journal Club £820 o Sarah Payne (WMG) & Sian Taylor-Phillips (WMS): Researching Human Fatigue in the workplace
£900 o Vannessa Goodship (WMG): WMG Researcher Forum £800 o Karen Ruane (Life Sciences) Life Sciences Network £500. o Penny Smith (Institute of Education) Education Research Network £500 http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/researchers/community/networks/education/ o Glen Tursley (WMG) Human Hip Group Seminar £470. Event 23 July 2013 o Sue Burrows (Physics) Physics Network Lunch 4 June 2013. £220
Funding has been accessed and used in many exciting ways by individuals and departments. 13 awards were offered to Research Active Staff with a total value of £16,620.
Feedback reports have been produced and are available to share the learning as well as providing ideas and examples that can be copied or adapted in the future.
In summary, the funding enabled the Research Active Staff involved to:
 increase their networking and promotion opportunities for themselves, their departments and the university.
 create opportunities to liaise with other potential collaborators within and outside academia, including companies and SME's.
 pilot ideas or to test ideas to include in future grant applications.
 develop their transferable skills (organising events) useful for career development.
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Supporting the Development of a Research Active Staff Community

Research Staff Forum
The Research Staff Forum (RSF) met 18 March 2013.
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Staff Networks
Working with “leads” to encourage research networks both within faculties & departments.
See the ‘ Networks’ page & funding above for further details and contacts for these and other
Researcher Networks at Warwick: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/researchers/community/networks/
4. Bespoke / New / Information
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WMG held two sessions, which Sandy presented o Enterprise bitesize – 20 March 2013 o Raising your profile – 26 March 2013
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Presentations about L&D opportunities & information relevant to RAS were given at the
Life Science Network on 12 March, Chemistry Research Fellow Forum that took place on 10
May 2013 & the Physics Network that met on 4 June & this one included a discussion on learning development opportunities, such as the Postgraduate Certificate in Transferable Skills in Science for
PDRAs
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Other support included
Communication and Impact - MOAC
Providing funding for this 2-day course on 15 & 16 March 2013 is developed specifically for post doctoral and early career researchers in the sciences. It is run in partnership with BBC Radio
Coventry and includes a studio trip to record a radio broad-cast. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/pioneers/pgcts/postdoctoralresearchers/postdocmodules/
Communication and Impact for Female Early Career Researchers
An example of the development and impact opportunities that researcher-focused activities can offer. In November 2012 LDC offered bursary places to enable Research Active Staff to attend a residential course organised by the Warwick Centre for Analytical Science in January 2013. The bursaries were quickly taken up, and following the event we received feedback from the researchers on what they have learned and the impact they expect the course will have on their future career.
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Collaboration or promotion with other departments
Open Access in Academic Publishing . Staff from the Library came to talk to RAS at events & also provided information for the monthly e-newsletter.
An Introduction to Entrepreneurship. Assisted with an event & also publicity for 21 February
2013, The Venture Centre, Warwick Science Park
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Additional Activities o Career Development Presentation for IAS 1 February 2013 o Presented on LDC internal funding at the Strategy Bites Session on 13 March 2013 o CROS & PIRLS . The Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) and Principal
Investigators and Research Leaders survey (PIRLS) ran at Warwick in May 2013. o Presentation for German Dept summer school 23 May on the ‘UK Research context and career development’ with Liese Perrin, RSS o Judges at the Student Careers Skills’ Annual Poster competition 5 June 2013 o Attended the Women in Science for Middle Manager Group meetings x1 per term led by
Pam Thomas o Attended the Vitae Midlands Researcher Developer Group meetings x 1 per term.
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o Attended the Research Data Management Action Group meetings o Athena Swan WMG submission presentation at institutional visit on 12 June 2013 o Achievements / outputs – many were used in the HR Excellence & University for Warwick’s institutional applications o Discussion with PVC from Monash re: ECR provision & support July 2013.
Staff
Sandy Sparks (Learning & Development Advisor for Research Active Staff) 80% FTE post was funded and focussed on the following:
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Managing the Funding Awards
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Supporting researcher networks and funding for networks
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Ensuring we provide high quality information for RAS through the website and monthly e-newsletter on L&D opportunities.
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Scoping existing provision of L&D support in Warwick and outside for RAS
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Commissioning, designing and delivering workshops for RAS
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Offering bespoke L&D support to Departments and Faculties work.
Lisa Lavender (Learning & Development Project Officer) 60% FTE & Lisa focussed on:
Ensuring we provide high quality information for RAS via development and maintenance of the website and monthly e-newsletter on L&D opportunities. She was involved in the statistics pilot project & improved website as well as proving administration support.
Future Plans:

The L&D provision for RAS will continue & Sandy’s fixed-term contract will be funded until 31 March
2016. Sandy 80% FTE & Lisa 40% FTE
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The L&D RAS provision going forward will focus on five thematic areas: o Leadership o Career Development o Research Skills - including Academic & Bid Writing / Statistics Support o Enterprise & Entrepreneurship o Equality & Diversity
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Research Staff Forum, to continue to meet x1 per term with PVC support and attendance
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Development of a possible Learning & Development collaboration with Monash, Australia partner
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Support the RISCUS / Statistics Dept event celebrating the ‘Year of Statistics’ on 27 November
2013.
Sandy Sparks
November 2013
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